The so-called Amsterdam Coalition, consisting of three opposition centre-left liberal parties - the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), and the Civic Liberal Alliance (Glas) - signed a formal agreement on Saturday to jointly run in the May 2019 European Parliament election.

The leaders of the three parties – Kreso Beljak (HSS), Boris Miletic (IDS), and Anka Mrak-Taritas (Glas), said they were taking a clear stand against the ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and “those even further down on the right-wing scale.”

“Over the last few years Croatia has seen a rise in nationalists and radicals, and things unacceptable to us have been normalised in a way,” leader of the regional IDS party, Boris Miletic, said.

They told the press that although their 12-candidate party slate hasn’t been agreed yet, any candidate they put up will be able to represent Croatia’s interests in the European Parliament.

Mrak-Taritas said that the May election is shaping up to be a crucial event in seeing whether the idea of European integration would die out under pressure from increased nationalism and the spread of “atmosphere of fear”.

“This coalition wants to be a coalition of progressive Croatian parties, and it must make every effort to fight for the survival of values such as peace and tolerance, freedom and democracy, which the EU is built on,” she said.

The three parties, which currently hold 12 seats combined in the 151-seat Croatian Parliament, said they were open to cooperating with other parties, adding however that partnering up with HDZ or the party led by the conservative populist Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic is off the table.

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